AMA hijacked by right wingers: Gillard

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Australia's top doctor lobby group has been hijacked by right-wing elements and is now actively campaigning against Labor, opposition health spokeswoman Julia Gillard has said.

After a stoush with the AMA over Labor's Medicare Gold policy, Ms Gillard accused the conservative Western Australian and Queensland branches of pressuring the national AMA to take sides against the Opposition.

"I think elements within the AMA have influenced the national secretariat and the national secretariat is now campaigning against Labor," she told The Age last night.

"Pressure from the WA and Queensland branches has led to a situation where the AMA is no longer objectively assessing health policy and is instead determined to campaign against Labor and for the Coalition."

With two days left before the election, health and doctors' groups have started giving scorecards to the major parties' health policies.

Health groups including private hospital operator Catholic Health Australia, the Australian Healthcare Association, which lobbies for public hospitals, and the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance, came out in favour of Labor.

Doctor groups generally supported the Coalition or remained neutral.

AMA president Bill Glasson dismissed Ms Gillard's claims, saying the Queensland branch, of which he was president before becoming federal leader, was non-party political.

"That's very unfair of Julia. As federal president, I have been so fair . . . The AMA is judging policy on behalf of the Australian population and the doctors that work in it."

On Tuesday, the AMA criticised Labor's Medicare Gold plan to give free hospital treatment to people aged 75 and over, prompting a sharp rebuke from Mr Latham, who accused them of peddling "political rubbish".

The AMA will give its full report on Friday morning, but Dr Glasson said last night the Coalition's safety net was a "big plus" while Labor's pledge to restore bulk billing to 80 per cent was "living in dream time".

The AMA Western Australian branch is running ads today promoting the Government's safety net and, on its website, describes Labor's Medicare Gold as "the ultimate Medicare fraud". President Paul Skerritt acknowledged he was campaigning against Labor but said it was for the benefit of Australians' health.

"I regard myself as neutral but when we look at the health policies . . . there are serious problems on the Labor side," he said. He agreed his branch had "probably had some influence" on the national AMA's "somewhat equivocal stance".

Public health groups are largely backing Labor. Catholic Health Australia CEO Francis Sullivan, who helped Labor develop Medicare Gold, said there were always some doctors who would resist change and who were "very comfortable with the current financial arrangements".

Australian Health Care Reform Alliance spokesman John Dwyer said "the Labor package is clearly superior". And Australian Healthcare Association executive director Prue Power said it was the "best option for providing access to high quality health care for older Australians".

Rob Walters, chairman of the Australian Divisions of General Practice, said there were "more pluses in the Coalition's package than in Labor's policy". But he said he believed the Government would peg back its safety net if re-elected. Rural Doctors Association of Australia president Sue Page said the Coalition was slightly ahead, mainly because of the $7.50 bulk-billing rebate in rural areas.

All groups agreed both sides had done badly on indigenous health, with Dr Glasson branding it a "bloody national disgrace".